Microsoft Planning Portal to Aid Police Investigations

MONTEREY, Calif. — Microsoft, with enormous resources and intimate knowledge of its software, is planning a website that will aid police in investigating Internet crime.

The announcement, made at the High Technology Crime Investigation Association’s 2005 International Training Conference & Expo in Monterey, Calif., comes in the wake of last month’s FBI’s Microsoft-aided probe into the origins of the Zotob worm, which crippled U.S. businesses in August.

Resources for the Microsoft site will include online training sessions on how to conduct Internet investigations, extract information from hard drives and trace an IP address back to its source to identify website owners.

The portal, which does not yet have an official address, also will offer information on recently passed legislation relative to Internet crime.

In other conference news, cybercrime instructor Glenn Lewis at the conference said that most computer forensic investigations using web browser date are easy for police — but only if the suspect employs Internet Explorer.

Lewis said that Internet Explorer hides nothing from investigators who examine PCs to discover which sites the user has visited. Those investigators typically know the location of the IE browser cache, cookie files and history, and they know how to read those files.

The investigations, however, find trouble when it comes to alternative web browsers such as Firefox and Opera because those programs use different structures, files and naming conventions for the data that investigators are after, he said.

Files also are in a different location on the hard drive, which can cause trouble for investigators, and in many instances forensics software may not support the web browsers, he said.

Lewis told attendees that one specific challenge with Firefox and Opera is identifying which web addresses have been entered manually as opposed to having been clicked on in a hyperlink. The distinction may be key to a case where a suspect claims he did not intend to visit a site but accidentally clicked on a link or was sent to a site automatically.

Firefox and Opera store data on typed URLs in a different file than Internet Explorer does, making the files harder to decipher, Lewis said.

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Justices Alito, Thomas Invoke Victorian-Era Morality Law, Raising Censorship Concerns

Several national publications reported this week on widespread concern among Free Speech advocates after U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas repeatedly invoked during a hearing the infamous segregation-era law the Comstock Act, which was the cornerstone of U.S. censorship of sexual material from the 1870s until the 1970s.

Skinfluential Management's FansFuel Acquires Fanwire

Creator stats and affiliate marketing platform FansFuel has acquired creator account management tool Fanwire.

Nebraska AV Bill Moves Forward Despite Privacy, Free Speech Concerns

Nebraska’s unicameral Legislature has given first-round approval to LB 1092, the state’s version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists.

AEBN Celebrates 25th Anniversary

The Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN) is celebrating its 25th year in business this week.

Performers in Meta Blacklisting Lawsuit Seek to Preserve Antitrust Claims

Adult Performance Artists Guild board officers Alana Evans, Kelly Pierce and Ruby have informed a California court that, although they want to drop their lawsuit claiming that Meta conspired with OnlyFans to blacklist rival premium fan platforms’ talent, they may still pursue antitrust claims in the future.

FSC, Co-Plaintiffs to Ask US Supreme Court to Review Constitutionality of Texas Age Verification Law

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) and its co-plaintiffs in the challenge to Texas’ controversial age verification law have petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to stay its recent decision upholding the law, because they intend to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to review the law’s constitutionality.

FSC Vows to Fight Florida Age Verification Law

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) has issued a statement vowing to continue fighting Florida’s new age verification law, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday as part of a comprehensive bill targeting minors’ use of social media.

Kansas Republican Aims to Create New Bureaucracy to 'Investigate' Porn Websites

Republican state legislators succeeded Monday in moving forward Kansas’ version of the age verification bills being sponsored around the country by anti-porn religious conservative activists, despite serious concerns raised by House Democrats about the cost of establishing a new bureaucracy tasked with investigating websites for pornographic content.

SK Intertainment Launches 'Skinfluential Management' Agency, FansFuel Joint Venture

Mr. Skin/Mr. Man parent company SK Intertainment has launched new creator agency Skinfluential Management, as well as a new joint venture with Showbizz Media's creator stats and affiliate marketing platform, FansFuel.

Industry Attorney, Free Speech Champion Clyde DeWitt Passes Away at 75

Noted industry attorney Clyde DeWitt passed away on Friday in Las Vegas at 75, according to friends and colleagues.

Show More